The field of network security has become increasingly important in today's society. The Internet has enabled interconnection of different computer networks all over the world. However, the Internet has also presented many opportunities for malicious operators to exploit these networks. Certain types of malicious software (e.g., bots) can be configured to receive commands from a remote operator once the software has infected a host computer. The software can be instructed to perform any number of malicious actions, such as sending out spam or malicious emails from the host computer, stealing sensitive information from a business or individual associated with the host computer, propagating to other host computers, and/or assisting with distributed denial of service attacks. In addition, the malicious operator can sell or otherwise give access to other malicious operators, thereby escalating the exploitation of the host computers. Thus, the ability to effectively protect and maintain stable computers and systems continues to present significant challenges for component manufacturers, system designers, and network operators.
Enterprise environments deploy numerous network management tools, including firewalls, network intrusion detection/prevention (NIDS/NIPS) systems, traffic shapers, and other systems. A number of these systems rely on inspection of network traffic in order to provide a wide array of services, including the detection/prevention of malware propagation, ensuring corporate intellectual property is not leaked outside well defined enterprise boundaries, as well as general auditing and network management functions. Network traffic may also be encrypted using protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS).